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EQUATERRA’S UTILITY AND ENERGY INDUSTRY PRACTICE LEAD APPOINTED TO XCEL ENERGY’S STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD

NEW YORK (July 29, 2005) —EquaTerra, a multi-national outsourcing and insourcing advisory firm, today announced Matt Smith, its Utility and Energy Industry practice lead, has been appointed to Xcel Energy’s Strategic Advisory Board.  The Board – which also consists of executives from IBM, Itron, Indus and Xcel Energy – is chartered with advising Xcel Energy on methods to transform its business processes into an industry leadership position, increase customer satisfaction, and provide reliable power at a low cost under the company’s “Utility Innovations” program.  Smith’s role on the Board will be to provide industry insight and best practice advice regarding business systems operations.

Smith has more than 25 years of consulting and professional services expertise in the sector.  Prior to joining EquaTerra, he was Vice President and Utilities Segment Leader for global consulting company BearingPoint.  Before that, he spent 23 years at Arthur Andersen, seven of which were as the global leader of its Energy Business Consulting practice.  He also led the development of several research projects for Andersen including “Energy Crisis in the Western U.S.”  His former clients include AEP, Exelon, FirstEnergy, LGE Energy and Xcel Energy.

Said Ray Gogel, Xcel Energy’s CIO, “We appointed Matt to our Utility Innovations Strategic Advisory Board for two very specific reasons.  First, he has exceptionally deep knowledge of the utility and energy industries.  Second, his expertise and demonstrated innovative thought leadership in enhancing business processes for strategic and competitive advantage is highly complementary to the backgrounds of the technology partners on the Board.   We are looking forward to Matt playing a highly pivotal role on the Board.”

Commenting on the appointment, Smith said, “I’m extremely honored to be joining Xcel Energy’s Strategic Advisory Board.  Having worked with Ray and other members of the Board over the years, I am confident we will succeed not only in helping Xcel Energy align its information technology investments with its targeted business improvement objectives, but also in continuing to build Xcel Energy’s position as an industry thought leader and change agent.”
 

About EquaTerra

EquaTerra (www.equaterra.com) is focused solely on providing global corporations with outsourcing and insourcing advisory, research and governance services that enable them to achieve service delivery excellence for their SG&A processes. EquaTerra's advisors average more than 20 years of industry, service provider and process experience with functional leadership in Finance & Accounting, HR, IT and Procurement, and have been involved in over 600 global business transformation, outsourcing and outsourcing governance projects.

For more information, please contact Lee Ann Moore at +1 713.669.9292;  leeann.moore@equaterra.com; www.equaterra.com.
About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy is a major U.S. electricity and natural gas company, with operations in 10 Western and Midwestern states. Xcel Energy provides a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.2 million electricity customers and 1.7 million natural gas customers through its regulated operating companies. In terms of customers, it is the fourth-largest combination natural gas and electricity company in the nation. Company headquarters are located in Minneapolis. More information is available at www.xcelenergy.com.